Airport welcome center/terminal bids exceed anticipated range of $2.4-2.6M

Submitted by Suanne  Z. Thamm

Reporter - News Analyst

March 9, 2017

At 2:00 p.m. on March 8, 2017, the City of Fernandina Beach closed Invitation to Bid (ITB) 17-02, which solicited bids to construct the municipal airport welcome center. Before a dozen or so people assembled in City Hall Commission Chambers, City Comptroller Patti Clifford and airport consultant Andrew Holesko of Passero Associates opened the five bid responses and read aloud the names of the bidders and the amounts included in the bid packages. The base bids for the terminal ranged from $3,685,000 to $5,177,411.10, with one firm (K.P. Meiring of St. Augustine) providing no bid. All bids received were higher than the estimated cost of $2.4-2.6M.

A city committee will publicly convene on Friday, March 10, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. to review and rank the bids. Their findings and recommendation will be considered by the Fernandina Beach City Commission in March or April. It remains to be seen whether the city commission will move forward authorizing the city manager to negotiate with the company receiving the bid award or whether it will cancel the current bid and start over.

The bidding companies were:

•  Xeye of Jacksonville, FL http://xeyeinc.com
•  F and G Construction of Jacksonville, FL http://www.fandgconstruction.com
•  OTAK of Yulee, FL http://www.otakgroup.com
•  West Construction of Lake Worth, FL http://www.westconstructioninc.net

Construction companies responding to the bid invitation were asked to submit bids for the project as follows:

Base Bid A: Construction of a 10,253 square feet gross floor area, two-story, general aviation terminal building, excluding the tail structure.

Base Bid B: Construction of the General Aviation Terminal Building site infrastructure consisting of site grading and drainage, access roads and automobile parking, concrete walkways, site utilities, landscaping and irrigation.

Bid Additive 1:  Reconfiguration and rehabilitation of an existing parking lot and associated landscaping and irrigation.

Bid Additive 2: Construction of East-side access roads, automobile parking, concrete walkways and associated landscaping and irrigation.

Bid Additive 3: Construction of a 1,872 square feet gross floor area Quonset hut building and associated sidewalk connections, landscaping and irrigation.

Bid Additive 4, Alternate A: Construction of the General Aviation Terminal Building Tail Structure.

Bid Additive 4, Alternate B: Construction of the General Aviation Terminal Building Tail Structure with a fabric roof cover.

Bids received for the welcome center/terminal are reflected in the table below:

Consult the city website www.fbfl.us for more details on the project and complete bid documents.

Editor's Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne's many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.